At present the Large erecting shop is the temporary home of visiting locos and carriages from the LVR and works continue to take care of what needs to be done.
This work day saw a few visitors and oldmates combine to continue the repair works on 5917.
The works on the 59 have something for everyone to do from cleaning off the road grime....
... to replacing boiler stays.
After the old stays are cut the "prod" is required to fish out the debris.
These old stays are still in solid condition but are being replaced as part of the maintenance plan and also support detailed inspection works to confirm boiler condition.
The new stays have been manufactered on site at Eveleigh and once screwed into the firebox are "knocked down" to lock them in place.
Using the riveting gun is hard work but these boys have been around many boilers in their time and certainly know the ropes.
While the attraction of big walve steam locos back in the shed has got a few people busy the majority of the team continues on carriages.
Richard has been busy finishing off the wiring runs in L516....
...and is now at the stage where the first terminations are underway with the reinstallation of the corridoor switches.
The HKB body work is teasingly close to completion and this week Bob finished off the guards "crossover doors" with the fitting of the cover trims.....
...the weathproffing of the joints.....
...and a final fill and sand of a few rough patches.
Chris continued on his step replacement with his nuts and bolts approach to the nuts and bolts....
.....and the final painting of primer to the step brackets.
Enjoying a day off from garratt duties Ron the cabin boy defected to Team HKB and finished the body sanding....
...and applied the last of the tinted undercoat.
After lunch Ron also spent some time tidying up gutter strips on the LVR cars with a lick of gloss black.
Until the supply of new windows arrives the rebuilding continues.
Some frames cannot be salvaged but the brasses, some felts and jewellery can.
Slotted head brass screws are also in short supply so those that can be are saved and reused.
Today a look through the square window sees a bear in there.....
...and a Steve as well!
Once rebuilt the windows are given a silky smooth coat of Indian red gloss enamel on the outside and a fresh coat of varnish on the inside.
Another of the defectors, Graham from the Oberon group helps clean the windows up ready to be reinstalled....
..by trimming and scraping the excess paint off the glass.
Then the brasses are cleaned up.....
...and refitted to the side frames.
The brass strips get screwed in place with a felt spacer and guide the free movement of the windows in the carriage window openings.
One more shipment of screws has been received from our UK envoy....
... so they've been used with new felt to provide the tension required to make a free but firm window fit.
With all the refitting done the window sides are given a quick wax....
....and another overhauled window is reinstated. Only a hundred or so more to go......
